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Harav Hagaon Shmuel Wolman Shlita

Avraham’s Kochos Are YOUR Kochos

Parshas Vayeira

Harav Hagaon Shmuel Wolman shlita

In this week’s parshah, the Torah describes how Avraham Avinu tried to avoid a situation in which Avimelech would take an interest in Sarah — an almost repeat performance of what happened in last week’s parshah with Pharaoh. However, there is a distinct difference between the conclusions of these two stories. When Pharaoh realizes that Avraham Avinu had been trying to hide Sarah, he immediately tells him to pack his bags, whereas Avimelech warmly invites him to stay.

Rashi explains that Pharaoh himself understood that the Mitzriyim were shtufei zimah — morally debased — and there was no chance Avraham Avinu would be willing to settle there. Avimelech, on the other hand, felt that his city was more cultured and less immoral, so there was a chance that Avraham Avinu would actually contemplate staying there. Yet we don’t find that Avraham Avinu even considered this proposal. Why not? Wasn’t Avimelech correct that Gerar was a better and safer environment than Mitzrayim? Did Avraham Avinu not agree with this assessment? Why was he still so opposed to settling there?

I think the answer lies in Avraham Avinu’s explanation as to why he was so evasive about Sarah’s true identity as his wife: וַיֹּאמֶר אַבְרָהָם כִּי אָמַרְתִּי רַק אֵין יִרְאַת אֱלֹקִים בַּמָּקוֹם הַזֶּה וַהֲרָגוּנִי עַל דְּבַר אִשְׁתִּי. Avraham Avinu noticed the lack of yiras Shamayim in Gerar and concluded that these people could not be trusted, to the extent that he was scared for his life. But if he already explained this, why didn’t Avimelech get the message?

It seems that there’s a fundamental distinction that Avimelech was not able to grasp. Avimelech was justified in claiming that his countrymen were not as corrupt as the Mitzrim, and were more cultured and less immoral, which is why he thought that Avraham Avinu would not be so opposed to settling there. What Avraham Avinu understood and tried communicating to Avimelech is that culture, etiquette, and behavior do not really show the true colors of a population. The people of Gerar might have been well-mannered and outwardly more self-disciplined, but they were lacking yiras Elokim.

We have all heard the chilling accounts of how the “cultured” Nazis committed atrocities while speaking politely. True middos tovos, authentic moral behavior, and good-to-the-core dependability cannot be measured by external behavior, but must be born of real yiras Shamayim.

Avraham Avinu agreed that Gerar was a higher-class environment and that there was less immorality there. Avimelech’s people could not be called shtufei zimah like the Mitzrim, but at the same time, without real yiras Shamayim, their cultured behavior could all be an external veneer covering up limitless depravity. And the minute that kinah or kavod or taavah could ignite the highly flammable corruption that lurks beneath the surface, there is no limit to how far that depravity could go — as Avraham rightfully feared that they would murder him to take his wife.

This is something Avimelech could not grasp. He could appreciate culture, behavior, political correctness, and being well-mannered and civil, but he could not appreciate genuine middos tovos that come from yiras Shamayim, true moral values, and priorities. And therefore, Avimelech continued to offer Avraham Avinu to stay in his city.

The Chiddush of the Akeidah
With this in mind, we might gain insight into another statement of Chazal regarding this week’s parshah. When Avraham Avinu passes the nisayon of Akeidas Yitzchak, Hakadosh Baruch Hu says, עַתָּה יָדַעְתִּי כִּי יְרֵא אֱלֹקים אָתָּה וְלֹא חָשַׂכְתָּ אֶת בִּנְךָ אֶת יְחִידְךָ מִמֶּנִּי. Apparently, Avraham Avinu had now, finally, proved himself to be a yerei Shamayim. But this can’t be understood on a simple level; was Hakadosh Baruch Hu previously unaware of this, chas v’shalom? Also, didn’t Avraham Avinu already prove his yiras Shamayim by passing all the previous nisyonos — kivshan ha’eish, lech lecha, and so on?

Rashi explains that Hakadosh Baruch Hu was referring to an entirely different revelation:

מעתה יש לי מה להשיב לשטן ולאומות התמהים מה היא חיבתי אצלך, יש לי פתחון פה עכשיו שרואים כי ירא אלקים אתה.

Avraham’s yiras Shamayim was not a chiddush to Hakadosh Baruch Hu, but now He had a way of excusing the unusual love He showed to Avraham Avinu.

This seems perplexing. Did the umos ha’olam really have a reasonable claim that Hakadosh Baruch Hu needed to address? Was it not obvious that Avraham Avinu far surpassed anyone the umos ha’olam had ever encountered? How could they dare contest Hakadosh Baruch Hu’s adoration for Avraham Avinu? And what suddenly happened when he passed the nisayon of the Akeidah?

The answer could be that the nations had definitely noticed Avraham Avinu’s extensive benevolence and hachnassas orchim, and they certainly viewed him as the amud hachessed, but they countered that they, too, have their humanitarian causes. They also have very decent people who are good citizens, willing to give a helping hand. What was so special about Avraham Avinu? Says the Eibishter: There’s something fundamentally different between outward acts of benevolence and middos tovos that are a function of real avodas hamiddos and yiras Shamayim.

The Eibishter therefore said: Let’s put Avraham’s middos to the true endurance test. Let’s take that amud hachessed and tell him to give up his only son, the one who was meant to carry on his life’s work in the building of Klal Yisrael. Let’s see how Avraham Avinu will manage when challenged to perform an act that is the epitome of achzariyus, the antithesis of midas hachessed.

When Avraham Avinu passed this test flawlessly, Hakadosh Baruch Hu finally had a way of showing the nations what real middos tovos that stem from yiras Shamayim look like. And that’s what He meant when He said, “Now I know that you are a yerei Elokim.” It wasn’t shallow, humanitarian compassion that fueled Avraham Avinu’s unstoppable quest to benefit others, even in the heat of the day on the third day after his bris milah, but rather a G-dliness that manifested in total selflessness: He was desperate to have a child who could perpetuate his life’s mission of being marbeh kevod Shamayim — but he could just as easily slaughter that beloved son if that was retzon Hashem.

This was the apex Avraham Avinu reached specifically through this nisayon of Akeidas Yitzchak. Here, he was asked to do something that essentially went against every fiber of his being, and he did it simply because it was retzon Hashem. The Ran famously comments that Avraham Avinu was never actually commanded to perform the Akeidah, for Hashem had told him, קַח נָא אֶת בִּנְךָ, and Chazal say elsewhere that the word נָא implies a request. So the Akeidah was not mandatory; Hakadosh Baruch Hu made His ratzon clear, but left it optional. Avraham Avinu could have reasoned that if he was not obligated to do this, he would rather not barbarically slaughter his one and only son. But he fulfilled Hashem’s ratzon anyway — not because it was easy, and not because he had no choice, but because his yiras Shamayim was absolute, and he completely nullified his will to that of the Eibishter, in fulfillment of Chazal’s dictum, בטל רצונך מפני רצונו. Once Hakadosh Baruch Hu expressed His will for the Akeidah to happen by saying, קַח נָא, Avraham Avinu’s ratzon immediately shifted to be totally aligned with Hakadosh Baruch Hu’s ratzon, which allowed him to so easily perform the Akeidah.

The Epitome of Zerizus

This is what Hakadosh Baruch Hu was finally able to show the nations: You might be outwardly decent, humane people, but you can’t relate to the genuine middos tovos that are wholly aligned with Hakadosh Baruch Hu’s ratzon — a Divine-like goodness that is good to the core and totally subservient to the true right and wrong. It’s no wonder that the Torah Shebiksav highlights Avraham Avinu’s zerizus during the Akeidah — as it says, וַיַּשְׁכֵּם אַבְרָהָם בַּבֹּקֶר — as the source for the din of zerizin makdimin l’mitzvos for all of Torah.

Similarly, in Torah Shebe’al Peh, Chazal see the mitzvah of milah as yet another source for the din of zerizin makdimin. Zerizus could be viewed as a personality trait — some people are naturally efficient and punctual, while others are not — but in truth, personality has nothing to do with the maaalah of zerizus in mitzvos. Zerizus reflects a relationship — an appreciation for the task at hand, regardless of one’s personality type. Things we want to do, things whose value we truly recognize, are done first. Things that we don’t value, things we have a hard time coming to terms with, are left for last. Zerizus in mitzvos shows that mitzvos are precious to us, that we value and appreciate them, and therefore they come easily to us and we do them immediately.

The epitome of zerizus is expressed through a mitzvah like Akeidas Yitzchak or, in a smaller way, the mitzvah of milah, which naturally goes against every fiber of a parent’s being, especially the amud hachessed like Avraham Avinu. Even if we need to do these mitzvos, it would be natural to push them off to the last possible moment. When Avraham Avinu exhibited zerizus with Akeidas Yitzchak, that was the pinnacle of doing a mitzvah out of love for Hashem and being mevatel his ratzon before that of Hashem. He hadn’t even been commanded to do this, but he naturally craved to do ratzon Hashem from ahavah, and that manifested itself in his going to do the Akeidah with zerizus. And that’s why the Torah chose the Akeidah as a perfect example of zerizus in its most powerful expression.

Similarly, Chazal chose mitzvas milah as the classical example for the din of zerizus. The Meiri (Yoma 28) notes that naturally, it’s difficult for a parent to give over a child for milah. Procrastinating this mitzvah would convey that we relate to it as a burden that infringes on our rachmanus for the child. Therefore, zerizus in milah is the epitome of zerizus. It’s a result of subjugating ourselves entirely to Hashem’s will, and the fact that even such a mitzvah could be done with zerizus expresses our absolute appreciation for retzon Hashem.

Rav Chaim Volozhiner famously taught us that the kochos hanefesh the Avos exhibited during their nisyonos did not build only themselves, but instilled these kochos into the neshamah of every single Yid. Avraham Avinu’s total bittul to retzon Hashem, which enabled him to so lovingly show willingness to sacrifice his beloved son, imbued every Yid with that koach to do mitzvos out of love for Hashem, not just out of obligation, and with the clarity that there’s nothing more valuable or meaningful in life than to be aligned with retzono Yisbarach.

As we read through the parshah of Akeidas Yitzchak, we can’t just be moved by the incredible level Avraham Avinu attained. We need to see this as a window into our kochos, into the kochos that each and every one of us has, and do mitzvos with that clarity of siz gut tzu zein a Yid. Then, automatically, our approach to Torah and mitzvos, and the manner in which we carry out our mitzvos, will reflect that appreciation and value system that is born out of עַתָּה יָדַעְתִּי כִּי יְרֵא אֱלֹקים אָתָּה.

A gutten Shabbos.

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